SCCAP and Festo Mechatronics Apprentices Compete at the IMTS Student Summit in Chicago

Summary

Sept 12, 2022 - SCCAP, SpaceTEC and Kamm Consulting Group GAP Turnkey Solutions Partner Festo Didactic kicked off the live SCCAP/FESTO Mechatronics Competition at the IMTS Student Summit in Chicago on Monday that ran through Thursday, Sept. 15, culminating with an Award Ceremony at the IMTS Student Summit Theater at 2:30 pm. The Space Coast Consortium Apprenticeship Program (SCCAP) is an industry-led consortium of Space, Aerospace, Defense and Marine companies hosted by SpaceTEC Partners, Inc. (SPI).

SCCAP Mechatronics Technician apprentices Carolyn MacGowan, Kate Borelli and Tarun Kumaravel, employees of Airbus OneWeb Satellites, and Gavin Roberson, an employee of Vaya Space will be competing against 4 Festo apprentices, Timo Osswald and Daniel Schmid from Festo German headquarters in Esslingen, Germany and Jake Laird and Teodulo Gonzalez from Festo New Jersey.

These three employees of Airbus OneWeb Satellites started their apprenticeship in 2019 directly out of local high schools. Now they are full-time employees of Airbus OneWeb Satellites with no college debt, a good paying job and leagues ahead of their former classmates with 3 years practical experience and already working to advance their careers in the Space Industry with a very promising future ahead.

These same three SCCAP Airbus OneWeb Satellites apprentices recently traveled to Germany on a National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded Apprenticeship Exchange Delegation Tour where they visited Festo and 2 Airbus Space and Defense locations to learn more about how German apprenticeships are structured and supported in order to benchmark this world-class process here in the US. Now these apprentices will match wits against some of Festo’s most experienced Mechatronics apprentices from Festo NJ and Festo Germany.

This follows on the heels of the Sept. 9 White House announcement, where Vice President Harris, addressing the National Space Council in Houston at Johnson Space Center, announced the formation of a national coalition for Space workforce where SCCAP will partner with the most high-profile Space industry companies in the US stating:

"In order to meet the current and future needs of a thriving space workforce, the public, private and philanthropic sectors must work together. To magnify the Administration’s efforts, the Vice President is announcing a new coalition of space companies that will focus on increasing the space industry’s capacity to meet the rising demand for the skilled technical workforce. The new coalition’s work will kick off in October 2022 and be anchored by Blue Origin, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and Northrop Grumman. Other industry partners will include Amazon, Jacobs, L3Harris, Planet Labs PBC, Rocket Lab, Sierra Space, Space X and Virgin Orbit, and will be joined by the Florida Space Coast Consortium Apprenticeship Program and its sponsors, SpaceTEC, Airbus OneWeb Satellites, Vaya Space and Morf3D. 

"The coalition, with the support of Aerospace Industries Association and American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, will stand up three regional pilot programs in Florida’s Space Coast, the Gulf Coast of Louisiana and Mississippi, and Southern California, and collaborate with service providers such as community colleges, unions and others, to demonstrate a replicable and scalable approach to attracting, training and creating employment opportunities particularly for people from backgrounds traditionally underrepresented in STEM jobs."

About SpaceTEC

SpaceTEC, a division of SpaceTEC Partners, Inc., provides skill-based, nationally recognized professional certifications for the U. S. Aerospace Industry. All SpaceTEC certifications are performance driven, based on technician competencies valued by industry competing in today’s global economic environment.

SpaceTEC has successfully certified aerospace technicians employed in civil, defense, and commercial organizations nationwide. Some of the businesses and agencies served include Boeing, General Electric, Harris, Jacobs, Lockheed Martin, NASA, Northrop Grumman, the US Air Force, US Navy, and US Army. The SpaceTEC Certified Aerospace Technician Core is also recommended by the Federal Aviation Administration Commercial Space Transportation Office as one of three certifications the Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV) operator may use for RLV Aerospace Maintenance Technician (RAMT) training during forthcoming rating assessment processes.

Through its more than thirty partner colleges located all over the country, the SpaceTEC Consortium offers Aerospace Technical Education skills training and college degrees for the U. S. aerospace industry. The SpaceTEC Certified Aerospace Technician Core is recommended by the American Council on Education (ACE) for 24 college credits toward a technical degree. Passing the SpaceTEC exam enables Certified Aerospace Technicians to earn degrees at an accelerated pace.